Darby Steel

“Darby can take any three things and make them explode”

―Izzy on Darby^[src]

Darby Steel is a character in the 2022 Disney•Pixar animated film Lightyear. She is a gruff, no-nonsense, and not-exactly-voluntary member of the Junior Zap Patrol. She was doing time in prison until she joined the unit in exchange of having her sentence reduced. Darby is known to be an explosives expert, who can take any device and turn it into something that will blow up.

Role in the film[]

When Izzy Hawthorne brings Buzz and Sox to a secret base where her team is at, the two approach Darby who is wearing her helmet, alongside Mo and DERIC. As Izzy gathers the elite squad, Buzz, and Sox to devise a plan to defeat Zurg and protect T'Kani Prime and place the hyper-speed crystal into the Turnip in order to escape and finish the mission. As the team moves forward to continue their mission, Darby, Mo, Izzy, DERIC, and Sox became aware of a Zyclops which suddenly attacked Buzz just as Izzy defends him from the robot. During the fight between Buzz and the Zyclops, Mo convinced Darby to grab the dropped gun, but Darby refuses, thinking that it would be a violation of her own parole just before Buzz tells Izzy to use it against the robot; however, Mo manages to fire a harpoon onto the enemy robot's head, causing it to become disabled.

While discussing with the Junior Patrol, Izzy explains to Buzz that the Junior Patrol is a volunteer team of self-motivated cadets who train one weekend a month at the outpost in T'Kani Prime, telling Buzz that she, Mo, and Darby were the first members to arrive last weekend when a group of Zyclopses showed up. During a discussion, DERIC tells Buzz, Sox, Darby, and the rest of the Junior Patrol that there are optional spacecraft at the abandoned storage depot located adjacent to the Resource Reconstituting Center; however, as DERIC is explaining a lot of directions to get there, Izzy, Buzz, Sox, Mo, and the rest of the Junior Patrol, board on their truck to find the area DERIC talked about. As Buzz discusses with the Junior Patrol, Darby replies that she is in a parole program, telling Buzz that the personnel save a little time of her sentence although she learned a lot from where which Izzy suggests Buzz that Darby can take any three things to make them explode just before Buzz and his allies arrive at the area DERIC was talking about.

Just as Darby and the rest of the Junior Patrol follow Buzz in the abandoned depot DERIC was talking about, the heroes are chased by a large swarm of insectoids. Buzz instructs Darby and the rest of the Junior Patrol to use stealth mode to sneak past the insectoids without getting caught, telling them to use stealth mode and then exit the front door, while Buzz plans to take on Zurg. Just as Buzz successfully boards the Armadillo in time, Darby, Izzy, and Mo's stealth mode timers run out, resulting the three ambushed by a large swarm of bugs. Throughout the ambush, Darby and Izzy bring Mo to the Armadillo while evading the swarm of insectoids. Buzz then pulls the string to deflate the bubbly suit, followed by Darby and Izzy who later enter safely. Buzz commandeers the Armadillo in a plan to escape them with the rest of his allies, only to be ambushed by Zurg who fired a laser on the Armadillo, resulting Darby and the rest of the Junior Patrol to land on a distant area of T'Kani Prime. After Sox tasks Buzz to find a material of specialized capacitance for the Armadillo in order for it to operate properly, Darby and the rest of the Junior Patrol follow Buzz to the mining facility to find the resource Sox was talking about.

At the Terillium Mine, Darby, Buzz, and the rest of the Junior Patrol, arrive at the facility within the mine and just as they enter, four AI devices activate and trap Darby and her allies in capture cones, leaving them unable to escape. Just as Darby gets caught in the same cone where Mo was trapped, Izzy and Sox end up getting caught as well, leading the four to slam their cone into the control after Buzz keeps the door open, although they are unable to disarm the traps. Buzz and his allies (who are all in the same cone) managed to slam the control very hard while the door is still open, albeit the pressure they put causes a part of the platform carrying part of the building to collapse. Darby, Mo, and Izzy escape from the collapsing part of the building, followed by Buzz and Sox arriving safely. Having escaped, Mo sees a vending machine nearby, giving his friends each a meat sandwich for snack. Later, Buzz shares his story with Darby, Izzy, and Mo about how he made a mistake in the past every day, especially during the obstacle course he had during hyper speed test just before Sox recalibrates to show a memory file of Alisha to the Junior Patrol and Buzz.

Upon exiting the facility in the mines, Darby continues to follow Sox, just as Buzz and the rest of the Junior Patrol follow along just as Buzz plans to board on the Armadillo without causing any more trouble only to be ambushed by Emperor Zurg who attacks them during an ambush. Darby, Mo, and Izzy defend Buzz from Zurg just before boarding the Armadillo. Upon boarding the Armadillo, Darby, Buzz, Sox, and the rest of the Junior Patrol are ambushed by a group of Zyclopses during a chase while Sox reports the progress of the ship going to hyper speed in order to reach Zurg's ship. After Buzz tells the Junior Patrol and Sox that he failed, he plans to face Zurg himself, only for Buzz to be captured by Zurg, which Darby, Izzy, Mo, and Sox notice the ambush.

With Buzz captured, Darby asks Sox to know if he could help fly the Armadillo, which Sox tells her that there is no fuel inside just before she gets into an argument with Mo, blaming each other for getting in this situation. However, when Izzy notices the door open inside Zurg's ship, she tells Darby, Mo, and Sox to enter inside the ship to go into space and help rescue Buzz. The Junior Patrol and Sox board on the Armadillo and due to a teleportation device placed on the ship, it teleports to Zurg's ship

Soon as the Junior Patrol and Sox arrive at Zurg's ship, Darby and Mo obtain teleportation devices from the deactivated Zyclopses as the Junior Patrol and Sox explore the chamber to find Zurg. As they enter, Darby and Mo encounter various Zyclopses patrolling the chamber, planning to distract them without getting caught by using a teleportation device to get past the robots. Soon as the Zyclopses notice the teleportation device that Darby and Mo placed onto their path, they notice the two above them and prepare to attack. Fearing that they are about to be killed, Mo pulls the string on Darby's suit which the hatch they are on drops onto one of the Zyclopses. Izzy escapes into the Armadillo with Sox, followed by Darby and Mo following along before Zurg's ship explodes. Later, Buzz sees the Armadillo (containing the Junior Patrol and Sox) inside about to land onto T'Kani Prime, leading Buzz to hold onto the ship in order for it to land safely while Darby pulls the air break on the ship.

Upon landing back onto T'Kani Prime, Commander Burnside and the rest of the ZAP Patrol approach Buzz, the Junior Patrol, and Sox where Burnside plans to hire Buzz to start his new version of Star Command, only for Buzz to tell him that he has his own team; Darby becomes one of Buzz's first trainees. Later, Darby, Buzz, Sox, and the rest of the Space Rangers board onto the SR-01, embarking on a new adventure.

Trivia[]

According to this early concept art, Darby originally had a pet crow that she would take anywhere with her.
The name label on the Space Ranger suit Darby borrows reads "Tempus"; this is a reference to one of Buzz Lightyear's early names, "Tempus from Morph".

Gallery[]

External Links[]

Darby Steel on Pixar Wiki

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v - e - d

Media
Lightyear (video/soundtrack) • The Art of Lightyear • books • Disney Emoji Blitz • Disney Mirrorverse • Disney POP TOWN

Disney Parks
Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin

Characters
Buzz Lightyear • Alisha Hawthorne • Izzy Hawthorne • Sox • Mo Morrison • Darby Steel • Zurg • Zyclops • Commander Burnside • I.V.A.N. • Airman Díaz Deleted: Larry Lightyear • Polly • Cosmo

Objects
A113 • Pizza Planet Truck

See Also
Star Command • Turnip • XL-15 • Toy Story • Buzz Lightyear of Star Command